Ariel
Biography Origin Far across the galaxy is the Coconut Grove. There the inhabitants are glamorous, with a penchant for bright and exotic fashion, and have mysterious powers that can be inherited down the family line. Although they are a naturally friendly race of beings who greet their guests with an instant make-over, they have evolved to their pinnacle. They were not satisfied to have reached the top of their evolutionary ladder and therefore they plotted to find mutations in other alien beings. Ariel had already inherited her family gift of teleportation, and was therefore sent across the galaxy to Earth. There she settled in New York where there was a high concentration of super powered beings; particularly mutants. Her mission was to gather as many mutants from as many races as possible, then lure them back home to the Coconut Grove where they would be studied internally by their scientists who would find a way to further mutate their own race. In New York Ariel found a small group of teenage runaways who called themselves the Fallen Angels based in the Beat Street Club. They were mostly pick-pockets and thieves, but their leader was a grown man known as the Vanisher, a mutant teleporter who often used his powers to steal for his own gain. There she met Chance, a young feisty Korean refugee and they formed a tight friendship. She shared her plans with Chance, and the two then began to find mutants to bring them in to the Fallen Angels. The Fallen Angels Ariel did not limit her search for mutants to just those in New York; or those who were human. With Chance's help they had already recruited Gomi, a young boy with cybernetic implants who had befriended two cyborg lobsters Bill & Don (the latter of whom was blue, and therefore classified as a mutant lobster). They later enlisted Sunspot who was accompanied by the technarch mutant Warlock. They were soon joined by Boom Boom, Multiple Man and Siryn. Using her teleporting abilities to travel to another world, Ariel also recruited Devil Dinosaur, Moon Boy. All the Fallen Angels who Ariel recruited (apart from Gomi & Bill) were mutants, and therefore perfect for her plans. However, Ariel enjoyed being on Earth and did not whisk the team away as soon as she had brought them all together. She enjoyed spending time hanging around Chance, and would use any opportunity to tease her human tomboy friend about her growing feelings for Sunspot. As well, she relished any chance to demonstrate her ability to bend space to create a teleportation portal through any closed doorway. So she let them remain on Earth, where the Vanisher would send them out onto the streets to steal food. Unfortunately, one such occasion led to the untimely death of Don, as he was accidentally crushed under foot by Devil Dinosaur. It was soon after this that she explained that it would be safer for the team if they found a new place to live, and everyone agreed to follow her. She had successfully completed her mission, but had not expected for the tables to be turned on her too. Mutant Powers Multiple Man had been carrying a portable version of Cerebro, which he had obtained from Magneto (who was then the headmaster of Xavier's School for the Gifted) in order to track Sunspot & Warlock; the two runaway New Mutants. Strangely all the mutants had been experiencing unexplained surges and complete loss of their powers. Multiple Man had explained when these strange occurrences that he had been receiving mutant signals on the portable Cerebro from Chance and Ariel. Chance would vehemently deny being a mutant, while Ariel convinced them that she couldn't be one. She explained that her ability to bend space through doorways was an old family ability that had been inherited down the generations. That she was descended from her namesake, Ariel from the Tempest, who also had the same ability which is why in the play she had been imprisoned in a pine tree. However, when the team had travelled to the Coconut Grove, Multiple Man's confirmation that there were two clear signals from both Chance and Ariel was overheard by Coconut Grove guards. Therefore when the Fallen Angels were attacked & kidnapped, Unipar ordered them to seize Chance as well. Ariel attempted to convince them not to take Chance as well, but they refused to listen. She gave up and went to walk away when they took her prisoner as well. Having overheard Ariel's story, they knew that she was a mutant, and that the only way to keep her prisoner was to trap her in a force-field pillar; a Coconut Grove equivalent of the traditional pine tree that had held her ancestor captive centuries previously. Redemption Only one of the Fallen Angels had remain undetected by the Coconut Grove guards, and therefore remained free. Bill the lobster was still angry from Don's tragic death, and now that his friends had been taken away the little green cyborg lobster fought his way through the Coconut Grove to free the Fallen Angels. When Bill liberated the Angels, they all ran out of the cell and were tempted to leave Ariel behind. She had betrayed their trust, and was left alone & remorseful trapped inside the energy pillar. However, the Fallen Angels took pity on her and freed her too. Having discovered that Ariel was a mutant, it did not take them long to discover what her mutant ability was. She began to sparkle and sweetly explained to Unipar (the leader of the Coconut Grove's forces) that they did not want to detain the Fallen Angels or follow them. It worked like the Jedi Mind Trick, and (with a little excessive brute force from Devil Dinosaur) Unipar agreed to leave them alone in future. It was then pointed out to the citizens of the Coconut Grove that as Ariel was one of their own kind who had managed to further evolve without scientific interference, then it was assured that the rest of the population would soon start to mutate as well. Ariel took her friends back to the Beat Street Club, but parted from her home planet claiming that she would not return. Although some of the other members went their separate ways, Ariel remained with chance and the others in New York. Utopia After an absence of about 20 years, Ariel has re-appeared. Still wearing glamorous clothes, sparkling ear-rings, sunglasses and short hair, she up-dated her look to fit in with the San Francisco crowd. When Norman Osborne's Dark Avengers were sent to attack and divide the X-Men, Rogue, Gambit & Danger appeared in San Francisco to help Cyclops defend mutants. Trance had been tasered and was left lying helpless in an alleyway. Gambit had saved her, and moments later a doorway behind him began to glow. Ariel appeared accompanied by Onyxx. Since he didn't recognise her, Gambit questioned Ariel whether she was an X-Men. Ariel answered that her membership was in her genetics. However, when Ariel & Onyx returned through the teleportational doorway Trance had disappeared. This confused Ariel, who didn't want to be blamed for the accidental loss of Trance. Ariel also displayed a disregard (or ignorance) towards the Stepford Cuckoos' Mindee whom she called Candy. Even though she's an alien, Ariel had accepted her mutant genetics and continued to use her mutant ability to sweet talk others. It was with her gift that allowed her membership (even if it is only temporary) into the X-Men. Nation X While living on Utopia, Ariel was willing to assist in the X-Club's scientific experiments to bend space & break through dimensional walls. It transpired that it was Trance's powers that interfered with Ariel's spacial-bending, and Ariel therefore acted as a disinterested guinea pig when the X-Men were desperately looking for a means to enter Emplate's dimension & save Bling. The X-Club warped Ariel's space-bending, causing her to open a door that opened behind her. When faced with her own rear, Ariel appeared more interested in the appearance of her jacket than in aiding the X-Men. Second Coming During a fight with Cable, Hope and the X-Men's Alpha team against the Purifiers, Illyana Rasputin is magically sent to Limbo. After The Purifiers are taken down by the team, Cyclops sends Ariel to the Alpha team as their new prime teleporter. While traveling with Wolverine and X-23 in search for Hope, their car was shot by a missile. Wolverine and X-23 survived due to their enhanced healing factors, but, its assumed, Ariel died of her injuries. Regenesis After touching Magneto, Rogue realized an alien presence had followed her team back from outer space. By touching each member of the team that had returned from space through a portal and then opening a gateway using Korvus' Phoenix Blade, Rogue was able to reach a pocket dimension and find Ariel. It was then revealed that when the missile struck the car she, Wolverine and X-23 were in on their search for hope Ariel had opened a gateway using the car door and gone through only to end up stuck in the pocket dimension in a constant explosion since the attack. Using Pixie's teleportation powers and a combination of Hellion's telekinesis and Rachel Summers's telepathy, Rogue's team was able to free Ariel from her prison. After being revived by the X-Club, she made a full recovery and used her teleportation abilities to join Rogue at The New Xavier School, leaving behind Utopia. Powers and Abilities Powers Teleportation/Space Bending: As an alien, Ariel has inherited the ability to teleport. However, unlike the Vanisher or Illyana Rasputin she can not instantly dematerialise and rematerialise. Instead, she can create a portal in any doorway. By mentally focusing on a closed door, she can then imagine the other side of the door to be anywhere else. When she opens the door she can then enter the location she had been concentrating on. This means of teleportation temporarily bends space around the doorway involved, and it is not restricted by distance. Voice Based Manipulation: As a mutant of her alien species, Ariel developed a second power; that to convince others to do whatever she told them. She had used this ability many times without realising that she was doing it. By just speaking to her intended target, she could suggest something (whether it be a perfectly normal suggestion, or something outrageously out of the ordinary) and they would accept it without question. Instead of being in a trance, the victim sees logic in her suggestion and offer up more reasons why she is right. Personality Ariel is a typical example of anyone from the Coconut Grove; she is flamboyant and glamorous. Preferring to wear figure hugging skimpy clothes, she has a natural sparkle about her. Even her eyes contain flower like sparkles. Usually Ariel is an optimistic person, but it seemed to be when she was the centre of attention, or in control of the situation. When she lost her verbal influence over the others and was trapped inside the energy pillar, Ariel became withdrawn, pallid and learnt to be sympathetic. Although Ariel appeared to be light-hearted and sweet, she was secretly conniving and inconsiderate. She relished the chance to use her space bending powers to humiliate Sunspot & Warlock (by sending them into the YWCA swimming pool), and enjoyed teasing Chance every time her best friend started to show signs of interest in Sunspot. Ultimately she was willing to hand over her friends to be scientifically experimented on, and did not learn to consider other's feelings until she was forced to suffer like they did. Category:Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Fallen Angels Category:Mutants Category:Aliens Category:X-Men Category:Utopians Category:Jean Grey School For Higher Learning Staff Category:Living Category:Telepaths Category:Teleporters Category:Mind Control Category:Krakoans